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Sign Up for Philharmonic Free Fridays

Posted
January
12,
2018

Calling all 13- to 26-year-old Philharmonic fans: don’t forget that you can get a FREE ticket to many of our Friday subscription concerts! Reserve your ticket through our online reservation portal, which opens at noon on the Monday before each Philharmonic Free Friday concert. We recommend registering as soon as the portal opens — tickets tend to be claimed within minutes!

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75 years ago today, Leonard Bernstein made his famed New York Philharmonic debut at Carnegie Hall at age 25 — famously filling in with a few hours’ notice and without rehearsal for an ailing Bruno Walter.

Last Friday, on his day off between performances of Barber’s Violin Concerto, Concertmaster Frank Huang traveled to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to perform his own arrangement of the National Anthem before the Brooklyn Nets played his beloved Houston Rockets.

Through interviews with Correspondent Lesley Stahl, early footage of Jaap as a violin prodigy, video from our Opening Gala Concert, and views of Jaap's wife and family in Holland, it's the perfect way to Meet Jaap.

“Whatever narratives … the music evokes in you, the pungent, precise harmonies are the result of the acute ear this composer brings to all his music, as we are learning from the Philharmonic’s two-week series ‘The Art of Andriessen.’” — The New York Times

Last night The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon left the studio for a special show in Central Park. For the occasion, Fallon asked members of the Philharmonic to join the show’s band, The Roots, for an epic installment of “Name That Song Challenge” featuring singer Carrie Underwood and actors Blake Lively and Henry Golding.

Today is our beloved Laureate Conductor Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday — and the end of our yearlong celebration of Lenny’s centennial year. Thank you to all who performed in and attended these events; we have loved every minute.

It was a reunion of friends and family at Bravo! Vail on Thursday, July 26: former Assistant Conductor Joshua Weilerstein led Elgar’s moving Cello Concerto with MacArthur “genius grant” recipient and frequent Philharmonic collaborator Alisa Weilerstein — his sister.

The New York Philharmonic, conducted by Bramwell Tovey, saluted the great composer-conductor and former Philharmonic Music Director Leonard Bernstein during his centennial year with a program celebrating his great Broadway hits.

The New York Philharmonic’s fourth annual Shanghai performance residency concluded with a New York–themed concert featuring music by former Philharmonic Music Director Leonard Bernstein and Gershwin, whom the late maestro championed.

In an appropriate nod to the maestro who made the New York Philharmonic a truly global orchestra, the Orchestra brings the Bernstein centennial celebrations to Shanghai with a concert saluting the Laureate Conductor, including through his ebullient Candide Overture.

Jaap van Zweden rehearses the Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, with Alisa Weilerstein as soloist, for the Orchestra’s second concert at the 2018 MISA festival, part of the fourth summer in the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership.

Camryn Cowan and Jordan Millar, 11-year-old students in the Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers (VYC) program, have received a joyous burst of media attention after being featured along with their compositions in the New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks.

This week, the New York Philharmonic is hosting five students from the Shanghai Orchestra Academy (SOA) selected by audition for the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program — a week-long immersion in the life of an orchestral musician.

The New York Times wrote: “the brilliant British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor ... played a demanding part with crisp articulation, beautiful shadings, keen attention to inner voices and tremendous imagination.”

Violist Vivek Kamath, flutist Yoobin Son, and Principal Harp Nancy Allen will perform as part of Lincoln Center Moments, a free program specially designed for individuals with dementia and their caregivers.

Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic were triumphant in back-to-back performances in Taipei, the last city on the ASIA 2018 tour. Pianist Yuja Wang joined the Orchestra for landmark concertos by Brahms and Prokofiev, the Maestro led the Orchestra in symphonic masterworks by Stravinsky and Mahler, and the musicians mingled with the Patrons and supporters who made the tour possible.

Watch Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden and the Orchestra rehearse the rousing “Ride of the Valkyries” from Wagner’s “Die Walküre” in Beijing’s picturesque National Centre for the Performing Arts.

Last evening at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, New York Philharmonic Kravis Emerging Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir received a Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, which recognizes extraordinary talent around the campus.

The New York Philharmonic welcomed the Year of the Dog with the seventh annual Lunar New Year Concert and Gala, a festive evening of Eastern and Western music presented by Starr International Foundation and conducted by Long Yu.

Today we announced details of our ten-day Asia tour next month, led by Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden. His first international tour with the Orchestra will feature eight concerts in five cities: Beijing, Kyoto, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Taipei.

Musicians from the Philharmonic will perform a Very Young People’s Concert as part of Lincoln Center Education’s Big Umbrella Festival –– the world’s first month-long festival dedicated to arts programs for children on the autism spectrum and their families.

This week’s Young People’s Concerts for Schools will cap a curriculum, created by the Philharmonic, that the kids in the audience have been studying with their teachers. Many also enjoyed in-school concerts by the Philharmonic Schools Teaching Artist ensemble in November featuring music by some of the same composers on this week’s program.

From January 18 to 29, eleven Zarin Mehta Fellows from Music Academy of the West, selected by audition, worked closely with Orchestra musicians in one-on-one lessons, mock auditions, chamber music coaching, and more.

“It was excellent timing on someone’s part: the New York Philharmonic’s, the University of Louisville’s, or both,” began the rave review, by James R. Oestreich, of last night’s concert in The New York Times. The World Premiere of Bent Sørensen’s Evening Land is happening the same week that Sørensen received the University’s Grawemeyer Prize.

There are still two more nights to catch the “gripping performance” (The New York Times) of Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony narrated by Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons and the “glittering account” of R. Strauss’s Don Quixote.

For the 15th time together, Principal Cello Carter Brey becomes the bemused knight and Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps plays his beleaguered squire when the New York Philharmonic performs Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote, November 9–14, led by Leonard Slatkin.

The record-holder for most frequent Saturday Night Live host, Alec Baldwin is adding another hosting gig to his resume: the Philharmonic’s Facebook Live broadcast of 106 All-Stars: Opening Gala Concert of New York’s Orchestra this Tuesday, September 19.

New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Frank Huang made his Bravo! Vail concerto debut joining the Orchestra and Music Director Alan Gilbert in this rollicking Rondeau from Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish.

Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic — in China for the third annual Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership — reunited with Yefim Bronfman in this rehearsal of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 for the next night’s Opening Concert of the 2017 Music in the Summer Air festival.

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The 52nd summer of the New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, brought almost 100,000 music lovers to hear the New York Philharmonic perform for free in every New York City borough.

On June 10, 2017, Alan Gilbert conducted his final subscription concert of his tenure as Music Director at David Geffen Hall. He led the New York Philharmonic in Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 joined by musicians from orchestras around the world, celebrating the power of music to build bridges and unite people across borders.

In his final subscription concerts as Music Director, Alan Gilbert concludes his eight years with the Philharmonic with a message about the power of music to build bridges and unite people across borders.

Four New York Philharmonic musicians traveled to Shanghai for master classes, coachings, mock auditions, seminars, and more as part of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership. The Philharmonic’s third annual performance residency in Shanghai is July 2–8.

Alan Gilbert takes his final bows in New York City as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic this month, starting with three performances of Wagner’s Das Rheingold featuring former Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence and friend Eric Owens as Wotan, June 1–6.

On June 4 — the same week that the full Orchestra performs concerts celebrating music’s power to unite and heal — Principal Cello Carter Brey and some of his fellow New York Philharmonic musicians will manifest this power for survivors of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

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New York City co-starred with Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the centerpiece of the New York Philharmonic’s 2017 Spring Gala at which the Orchestra performed Henry Mancini’s Oscar-winning score live, led by Assistant Conductor Joshua Gersen, while the complete film was screened.

At this year’s New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, we invite you to join us in performing the “Goin’ Home” theme from the Largo movement of Dvořák’s New World Symphony before the concerts in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, June 13–16, 2017.

Alan Gilbert’s final weeks as Music Director are under way. Relive the magic of the combination of Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic through a celebratory website that captures highlights of his tenure as Music Director through video, audio, and photos.

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The New York Philharmonic String Quartet made its German debut in John Adams’s rollicking Absolute Jest on April 4, 2017, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert in the New York Philharmonic’s first appearances in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, which opened in January.

New York Philharmonic Principal Percussion Christopher S. Lamb had to combine logistics with virtuosity during the Orchestra’s residency at the Barbican Centre in London. Here he talks about the challenges and performs in Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto.

Music Director Alan Gilbert, soprano Christina Landshamer, and the Philharmonic rehearsed Mahler’s ethereal Symphony No. 4 on March 30 in the Wiener Konzerthaus, in the city that the composer and former New York Philharmonic Music Director called home.

The New York Philharmonic and the family of Leonard Bernstein presented the Vienna Philharmonic with Bernstein’s marked score of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, in celebration of the Austrian orchestra’s 175th birthday.

The EUROPE / SPRING 2017 tour began with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic performing in Antwerp on March 23 — the Orchestra’s first performance in that Belgian city since 1920 took place in the inaugural season of Queen Elisabeth Hall.

As part of The New World Initiative — our season-long immersion in Dvořák’s New World Symphony — The Queen’s Cartoonists arranged a jazzy version cycling through the work’s main themes in two minutes using kazoos, upright bass, saxophone, and more.

Today Philharmonic Chairman Oscar S. Schafer, on behalf of the Board of Directors and Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden, announced that Deborah Borda will become President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Philharmonic on September 15, 2017. In addition, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Bill Thomas will become Executive Director, effective May 1, 2017.

From February 14 to March 6, more than 5,000 students and 236 teachers in grades 3–5 participated in 19 Philharmonic Schools interactive concerts at 15 partner schools throughout New York City’s five boroughs.

Alan Gilbert believes in the power of music to heal, build bridges, and cross borders. In his final subscription program, he will lead the New York Philharmonic joined by musicians from orchestras around the world in concerts celebrating this power.

This just in! We’ve released details of our 2017–18 season, celebrating what makes the Philharmonic great while looking to the future as we welcome Jaap van Zweden as Music Director Designate before he becomes Music Director in 2018–19.

The New York Philharmonic welcomed the Year of the Rooster with the sixth annual Chinese New Year Concert and Gala, a festive musical evening presented by Starr International Foundation and conducted by Long Yu.

Saturday capped a remarkable week in which Young People’s Concerts intersected powerfully with The New World Initiative, our season-long, citywide project revolving around Dvořák’s New World Symphony and its theme of home.

From the concert on January 14, 2017: Music Director Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, with soloist Stephen Hough, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 3.

Last night Music Director Alan Gilbert led the Philharmonic and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in the World Premiere of The Jungle (Symphony No. 4), the jazz legend’s depiction of New York as super highway.

Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic performed a historic concert at the United Nations yesterday, paying tribute to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the conclusion of his ten-year term and welcoming his successor, António Guterres.

Last week, wind, brass, and percussion students at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music auditioned for the opportunity to spend a week amongst New York Philharmonic musicians, learning about the life of an orchestra musician from the inside.

Alan Gilbert and the Philharmonic’s recording of music by former Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse, released in May 2016 on Dacapo, is a rousing success: it’s been nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance!

This month The New World Initiative, a centerpiece of our 175th season celebration, offers New Yorkers the chance to engage with Dvořák’s New World Symphony, a work associated with the Orchestra since its premiere and so a piece of the city’s cultural history.

On December 16, 1893, the New York Philharmonic gave the World Premiere of Dvořák's New World Symphony. Here's another first: for the first time ever, you can see the manuscript parts used at the premiere, and other cool stuff.

Philharmonic audiences got a glimpse of the future when Jaap van Zweden led the New York Premiere–Philharmonic Co-Commission of Julia Adolphe’s Unearth, Release, with Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps as soloist, plus Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and Wagner’s Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin.

Salonen has expanded the role to fuse performance and curating with composition. He returns as composer when the Orchestra performs the New York Premieres of his Wing on Wing and Cello Concerto, with Yo-Yo Ma, and to conduct a U.S. Premiere by Tansy Davies.

The unprecedented joint exhibit of archival material from throughout the venerable orchestras’ histories will be housed at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, February 23–March 10, 2017, before moving to Vienna.

Create works of not more than three minutes that contain or reference themes from Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World. You could win some cash, and be recognized onstage at one of the Concerts in the Parks!

The Philharmonic, in partnership with the NYC Department of Education, developed a curriculum exploring the New World Symphony's African American and Native American influences using Philharmonic archives and presented it to 400+ teachers at a professional development day.

Wednesday marked many milestones: the launch of the New York Philharmonic’s 175th anniversary season, Music Director Alan Gilbert’s farewell season, and The New World Initiative — the Philharmonic’s season-long, city-wide project revolving around Dvořák’s New World Symphony and its theme of “home” — plus the Orchestra’s first-ever live concert broadcast on Facebook.

Today it was announced that the Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden, who becomes Music Director in 2018, will open the Mahler Festival — held every 25 years — in Amsterdam in May 2020, presented by The Royal Concertgebouw.